Black on Grey on White

Merry Christmas#2 Sheona Hamilton-Grant. 2011 All rights reserved A great big "Happy Christmas and Merry Holidays" to everyone. Thank you all for visiting my blog and FaceBook page throughout the year and taking the time to leave your comments. Wishing everyone a great holiday season, and a fandabidosy 2012. See you all again next year!

Do you have a few equine art fans on your list and still haven't found the perfect Christmas gift? How about an outstanding quality piece of artwork... Here are three outstanding artists whose work hangs beautifully in every home, have made many an animal lover's heart beat faster and make wonderful, unique gifts. Spell bounding quality equine paintings will greet you in Canadian Equine Artist Linda Shantz art world. Her work will have you drifting off into a world of equine beauty, calm and serenity. Visit her website http://www.lindashantz.com/ and be prepared to be transported into a world of equine warmth, elegance and harmony . Oil Linda Shantz. 2010 All rights reserved In time for the festive season, her studio is currently offering an online December Celebration. Until December the 18th, a 25% discount will be given on any of the paintings found in both Linda's Thirty Horses, Thirty Days blog and in her Red Willow Gallery blog. Should a world of Black and White...

Bonfire Night Sheona Hamilton-Grant. All rights reserved . Wind, wind, whirl, whirl, mad, fun, mad, fun, STOP, BREATHE, wind, wind, whirl, whirl, mad, fun, mad, fun.... Still alive and scribbling. Must admit to having been shut away deep in my cave creating all sorts of portraits. Sadly due to the top secret nature of the drawings in progress, I cannot reveal their identity until the New-Year... BUT... I do have some images of mine I can and would love to share. January 2010, I started my photoblog Sheona Ann Photography on Pixyblog. A mish mash of the beauty I see daily. My passion for photography started in my late teens when my Dad lent me his old Zenith "to try" and helped me set up a wee dark room in the corner of the garage. Good old traditional manual photography. Today, the Zenith has been replaced by a Canon and my dark room by Lightroom . I may have moved with the times but my passion is still very much "up-to-date". Off back to the drawing board, nea...

To be honest, I never realised you could drown in pencil shavings and graphite... You can. It's happening at this very moment, here in the studio . Christmas commissions have been "on the go" for the last 6 weeks (most excellent news) and Christmas is roughly another 6 weeks away (not such excellent news). Every minute now crucial to getting the next commissions finished on time. The result: days in my black and white world are madly fun: studio's buzzing, the artist scribbling, music pumping, Wilbur and Bernadette rocking, coffee brewing, cats if not playing paperweights very busy being feline. Sadly, due to the world of secrecy surrounding all the commissions coming on and off the drawing board, none can be shown. However, I do have one that I "prepared" last month. Meet Frederic T a gorgeous handsome (now retired)) German Warmblood dressage horse. Frederic is horse with oodles of talent who has given his rider and owner many a happy moment. Frederic T...

That strange things can and may occur overnight in the studio, is a fact. Three days ago my blue tack took on a new shape and went all lost symbol on me. Giggling, I asked Jess for help. Lo and behold she pointed me in the right a direction, with a questionning look in her eyes. In her catty mind the culprits were so very obvious. Wilbur & Bernadette (the 2 studio rascals) Discover more about my mad studio assistants here , here and here . Wilbur and Bernadette , bored of not being entertained as much as they are used to, bashfully decided to leave me a special "impossible to ignore" message... I love subtle hints and really there is only one thing for it: take their hint to heart, pump-up the volume and get back to the scribbling front asap....

It's going to hit. I know why, I know when and I believe I know how... My "one man band" is on high alert. When not marching left, right and center, it's organising ETA's and deployment lists. Gathering the mental troops ( involving meditative sounds, long deep breaths and "positive vibe" thinking) highly crucial to the success of the operation. The total household occupation will triple overnight... Colour scheme is to change enough to seriously contend with the rainbow. Noise levels to increase to a pitch earplugs are being ordered as I type. It's all great though, invasions of this type are every childs' dream! There's going to be a party! A big noisy balloon popping finger licking party. Our wee girls is one year older. Happy birthday darling. "Blue Balloons" 2011 Sheona Hamilton-Grant. All rights reserved.

Beware this post contains only technical (yawn!) content Graphite art is made up of two very important physical elements: pencils and paper (unsurprisingly, the most commonly used support for drawing.) One thing you have to remember is the word important... Yes, the quality of the paper is paramount. (Low quality paper will let you down, if not straight from the start, for sure, at some time later down the road...) Image: arpadstock on deviantART To make sure you choose the right paper here are the points to look out for. 1. Acide Free . Always choose a paper free of acid. Papers with high acid content (cheap cartridge or newspaper papers) are made of chemically processed wood pulp which over time degrades and becomes yellow. Premium art papers are made from cotton pulp. The manufacturers legibly display"Acid free" 2. The Tooth The other important detail to look out for is the tooth of the paper. Tooth refferes to the surface of the paper. The way the paper feels. The...